My Hatching Journey: the Adventures of a Complete Newbie

[Dawnclucks22]

Aww, it's grown-up balut! Cute little babies!

 

[BantyChooks]

Aww, it's grown-up balut! Cute little babies!

They're all grown up now! Very old balut

The black and white one in the centre is one of the littles I hatched. Rest were acquired as lings---the two other Anconas I kept aren't in this image.

 

[BYC910]

Well Howdy DO I thought this thread had died I applaud you self control Don't you want to set some eggs you know your just sitting there thinking about them pretty little baby chicks all cuddly and cute . It haunts your dreams don't it ? Did you miss Me ?

 

[BantyChooks]

Well Howdy DO I thought this thread had died I applaud you self control Don't you want to set some eggs you know your just sitting there thinking about them pretty little baby chicks all cuddly and cute . It haunts your dreams don't it ? Did you miss Me ?

Hi K, of course I missed you. You're entirely right, it's been all I can do to resist. If I'm distracted and hear wild birds outside the window I'll sometimes jump upright and listen intently because I could have sworn it sounded like babies hatching.

Sigh... no babies for Bubbles.... not until March or April next year. Depends when I can get un-frozen PC eggs. I'm thinking to do maybe three larger batches so I can get all the birds growing up at about the same time. If I make a lockdown bator I can even have multiple running at once.

 

[DwayneNLiz]

yes!!! a hatcher is a MUST-HAVE!!

 

[BantyChooks]

yes!!! a hatcher is a MUST-HAVE!!

Sounds like a good winter project to me, then

Might just make it still air. I had the fan turned off on the other for a day when the ducks were hatching because I had forgotten to cover the back and they were coming real close to sticking their faces in the fan. Temp stability was fine and hot/cold spots weren't bad.

 

[LittleLakePhil]

 

[BantyChooks]

Well howdy there
What's shaking? How much snow ya got so far?

 

[BantyChooks]

Cooler for hatcher... might be a bad girl and use just one bulb since it will fit in this tiny thing better.
I have plenty of replacement bulbs, so wouldn't be too long of an outage if it blew, and we all know I never leave eggs in lockdown alone anyway.

Haven't ordered a wafer thermo/more light sockets yet.

 

[BantyChooks]

Well, at long last, it's finally time to start thinking about hatching. I've busied myself with incubator upgrades in the remaining time left to wait.

Holes for tubing similar to what I had on my last 'bator. This will reduce the number of times it gets opened in lockdown. In theory, anyway.

Edge of the bottom tray. It pulls out nicely as detailed in later images. I will be making a flap to cover it when not in use as I already have enough ventilation. I used a hack saw to cut it to size.

I put some small drain holes in the lowest part of the lid. That way water can't get in there and slosh around for weeks, like it did with the last hatch.

Tray on the inside. I think I'll put HWC and shelf liner on top of it.

Tray half slid out.

Incubator with egg turner in it. I hot glued a cup to the side for regulating humidity during incubation.